deus ex machina
by kiba-eats-glass
Summary: Ryou isn't unhappy, but he is bored. His life is devoid of everything, and he's tired of the monotone that fills each day. Finally, someone enters his life that could change it. Even if it is at the expense of his health... yaoi. RxB.
1. dull

**Ohmygodddd. I really shouldn't be writing this, I'm putting off two or three other things to get this out of my head, which is bad. PLUS I should be going to Wal-Mart!  
Yu Gi Oh ruins my life. Blah.**

**But, I'll get over it. This is Ryou-x-Bakura. Ryou's POV throughout most of it, though I'll probably occasionally switch.**

**DISCLAIMER: …whatchutalkin'bout? I own Yu Gi Oh :D! … -sob-  
Damn you****Kazuki Takahashi!**

**Oh, also, this isn't a song-fic, I just love random lyrics. So.  
**

**  
-x-**

**dues ex machina.**

_Need more friends with wings.  
All the angels I know put concrete in my veins.  
I'd always walk home alone,  
so I became lifeless, just like my telephone._

_There's nothing to lose, when no one knows your name._

**I always felt a sick dropping in my stomach, when my alarm clock let out its first thrills at the beginning of each morning. **This morning wasn't any different, and as I lay there, listening to the clock beg me to get out of bed and get ready, I began the careful deliberation of not getting myself out of the bed at all. It would be so much easier, after all. Each side of my conscience had a very valid argument though, and I found myself stuck in the middle. Laying here and sleeping till noon would be very, very easy. _You have two tests today, and a study review. _Then I could get up at noon, go downstairs, eat cereal in my pajamas…_What if you actually got sick later in the year, one less absence you would have. _Then, I could watch TV till it was time for bed again. _Is TV and laziness more important than graduating? _One day couldn't hurt, after all. _One day could change everything._ The smart part of my brain won. I finally pulled my eyes open, staring at the digital clock laying on the end table ten inches in front of my face. 6:05… it was still dark outside, and would be for a while still.

I was awake, my eyes were open, but as I reached across and turned the alarm off, I didn't get up. Instead I lay perfectly still, and listened. The house was big enough, and if anyone were in it aside from me, I would have heard them. Any movement of any kind in this house, it echoed until it filled every room. But, there was nothing but my own even breathing. I was dully unsurprised. My father had better things to do in other countries, things that in no way pertained to me. At least he thought of me now and then, he did send me gaudy jewelry from time to time. Don't get the wrong idea, my father loved me. It wasn't a lack of love for me that kept him away, it was business, and I understood that. He loved me, but he didn't have time for me. That was understandable.

Satisfied to know that no one was in the house besides me, I pulled myself out from between silk sheets, moving into the bathroom that was connected to my bedroom, flicking the light on and walking to the stand-alone sink, glancing only briefly into the mirror above it. I was bored with what I saw, simply because it was so standard. I saw it everyday, and I would see it every day for the rest of my life. White, almost translucent skin, snow-white hair, and dark brown eyes. I was bored. Moving away from the mirror I took a shower, quick and straight to the point.

By the time I stepped out of the bathroom, snowy hair damp, wearing a dark green sweater and blue jeans, it was only 6:23. Walking back to my bed, I sat in the place where the covers were turned back, staring at the two dots separating the hours and the minutes on my clock, watching them flash, counting each flash with a blink of dark eyes. One, two, three… each was a second, right? Sixty. The time changed. I looked up and to the large bay windows across the vast expansion of my own bedroom, it was still dark outside for the most part, but the sun was peaking outside, and what little light was filling the sky, slipped in through my cracked white-washed wooden blinds. It illuminated my room as best it could, which was easy, because there was nothing in the huge space. A king sized bed. An end table. A dresser. A desk with a sleeping laptop. The rest was nothing but an oasis of white carpet the size of a living room and a half. It was a big room, sure, but it was an empty room, and I could really care less.

I sat on the bed and stared at the window as the light increased until my alarm went off again to tell me that if I didn't leave, I would be late.

**-o-**

School was close enough to walk, just like it had always been, so despite the fact that there was always a limo waiting outside the house, I always bypassed it to walk to school. I was perfectly capable of using my own two legs to get there. Besides, walking to school, especially when it was as cold as it was today, it cleared my head. Not that there was much in my head to begin with. There was nothing much in my life to fill my head mostly. I went to school, I got all As, I went home, I sat in front of a TV so large that it could have been a movie screen, I watched it, I did homework, I slept. It was boring. It was all so god damn boring that I could have ripped my hair out. But, here I was, walking to school, being good, like I did every single day.

I was dazed by the cold by the time the school came into view, my lungs burning not from the walk, but from the cold I was sucking in through my mouth. Maybe breathing in through my mouth would give me pneumonia, and it would put me in the hospital. My hands, both holding onto the strap of my bag, burned with the cold. Every part of me that stuck out, the cold had tried to bite it off, my cheeks, my nose, the collarbones that my sweater didn't quite cover. It was painful, but exhilarating, and it was what dazed me, as if I was looking at the school not right in front of me, but down from one end of a long tunnel. So, when it sounded like someone spoke my name from my left, I didn't look immediately. They couldn't be talking to me? There it was again, my name, clear and sharp through my haze, and I jerked my head to the side.

Imagine you had to do something you didn't want to, and while you were focused on this thing you had to do, and nothing else in the world, someone suddenly spoke to you in a friendly way, someone suddenly broke through the wall you had put up between your psyche and the rest of the world, speaking to you when you weren't expecting to be acknowledged. That was the feeling I had, and as I turned my head, I almost frowned at the sight of Joey walking towards me. Joey was a nice guy though, he was my friend, and he didn't deserve my disapproval, so I smiled instead, the happiness sincere as I pushed my bitterness back, it wasn't Joey's fault that my life was boring, not really.

"Good morning, Joey."

"Hah! no 'Cheerio', eh Ryou?" _Please god, not today Joey. _The sensation of the cold around us was making my face tingle with pain, it was enjoyable.

"No, not today I'm afraid," I responded with a hollow laugh, but the hollowness of it was lost on Joey, who only joined me in the laugh and followed me towards the building, his hands resting behind his head. He was so happy, so full of life. I was jealous. It's not to say that I wasn't happy, I was… happy. I was just constantly unsatisfied, with myself, with my life. It was boring, and it was stingingly unfair that Joey's life wasn't as boring as mine. The blonde pulled the door open for me, and the as the heat rushed out of the building at hit me in the face, I felt my knees tremble. I really was cold, wasn't I?

"Doing anything this weekend?" Joey's question caught me off guard, and I looked at him quizzically.

"Not really, why? Besides, it's Monday, why are we all concerned with the weekend already?"

"Well, we're having a gaming tournament at Yugi's shop, and we wanted to invite you."

"I see," I said carefully, mulling the idea of going to a tournament over in my mind. It sounded boring. I put myself on autopilot all at once, my body condition for this, and my responses all cheerful. I think I agreed to go, I can't be sure. My mind was actually elsewhere, studying Joey's face as he spoke, that goofy smile in place.

I noticed a fading bruise around the taller boys' throat, a second one, almost gone, on his cheek, just below his right eye. Looking at Joey, it was hard to believe how often his father beat the hell out of him, how much crap he got, every single day. He was so... happy. I wondered suddenly, what it felt like, to fear for your life. To have someone hitting you so hard, and so often, that there were times when you honestly believed you wouldn't be alive when the next day came… to really think that you would cease to exist. Was it exhilarating?

My stomach dropped and my autopilot flickered off just like a light as I felt sick with my own thoughts. I suddenly wanted to hug Joey, to apologize to him, for things I hadn't even said out loud. He noticed my change in expression and his smile didn't flicker, it disappeared. All at once, he was all worry as he reached out, grabbing my shoulder, his thumb set against my still freezing collar bone. It was hot.

"Ryou? Buddy, you alright? You look sick. Do you need to go sit down, or something?" I tried to compose myself, head reeling from my thoughts. I really was a bad person, wasn't I? Deep down, underneath everything, I was a bad person. I smiled at Joey, but he was unconvinced, and led me over to the nearest bench, tugging me down onto it and sitting next to me. I said nothing to him. What could you say to a person after something like that?

"I'm fine," I said to the floor, to the girl across the entrance lobby of the school who was shooting us funny looks, to the wall, to everyone except Joey. "I'm alright."

"If you're sure, Ryou…" Joey said cautiously. I wasn't looking at him, but I could feel him watching my face, I could feel his worry for me. I didn't deserve his worry, not really. He said something else, but it was incoherent. I was trying my best to work my way back into autopilot. As I tried, I suddenly realized something about the girl across the lobby that I had 'spoken' to before, I realized it wasn't Joey and myself that she was staring at, but the office which was directly next to the bench we were sitting on. I turned my head just as the door opened and someone stepped out, the haze my autopilot created was instantly shattered again as I stared at the creature stepping out, Joey grabbed my wrist suddenly, and I think we gasped at the same time.

He was me.

Well, he could have been. If I possessed the ability to look that good. If I possessed the ability to look that cruel. If I possessed the ability to move with conviction, and passion.

He was there; and he looked like my long lost twin, if my long lost twin had everything that I, as a person, lacked. Joey was obviously thinking all these things as well, or at least that we looked similar, because his grip on my wrist tightened as he turned and glanced at us, dark brown eyes narrowing as he stopped walking and changed direction toward us. I leaned back as he neared, my back hitting the wood backboard as he leaned down to look into my face, my heart beating so hard I knew he could hear it.

"What the fuck are you staring at?" I shook my head feebly as he stood up out of my face and turned away again, walking off and past the staring girl, down the hall and out of sight. My heart was still beating so hard it was painful, I was still breathing as if I'd run a great distance, and Joey was still gripping my wrist in a vice.

Well, there was the excitement for my day.

**a/n: **Well, there's chapter one! Let me know what you think 3 ;;. I'm pretty satisified with it, but I would like a few reviews before I post the next chapter. I know this chapter is a bit devoid of action, but it is to come! No worries!  
3Kiba.


	2. cruel

**Hi again everybody :3. I'm trying to go ahead and get in an update that contains a bit of action, since chapter one was, for lack of a better phrase, a 'filler chapter' to kick the introduction of the story off. But, now that that's done, we can actually get into the interesting bits :333.**

POV may switch near the end of the chapter. I'll make it clear, if it does.

DISCLAIMER: Kazuki Takahashi, still being in full possession of Yu Gi Oh, thwarts me once again ;o;.

Oh, I forgot; the lyrics from the beginning of chapter one, they're from 'Nothing To Lose' by Billy Talent.

-x-

**deus ex machina II.**

_Do you know?  
I believe I could cure it all, for you dear.  
Coax, or trick, or drive, or…_

…_drag the demons from you.  
Make it right for you, sleeping beauty.  
Truly thought…_

_  
I could magically heal you.  
_'Sleeping Beauty'**A Perfect Circle.**

**For the next two weeks, every night I had the exact same dream.**I was sitting on the bench outside the office, alone, staring down at my feet as if waiting for something. Then, that something approached, dull, far-away footsteps slowly becoming vivid, and sharp, and when I finally brought my face up, I stared into a perfected version of my own brown eyes.

"What the fuck are you staring at?"

Then, I was awake.

**-o-**

The dream, the redundant and stupid dream, it filled the long fortnight that I didn't see him at all. It was as if I had imagined him that day outside the office, and I would believe I _had_ imagined him if Joey didn't ask me about him every single day. I was glad that Joey had been there though, if he hadn't I probably would have considered myself gone officially insane, because at this point I was pretty damn close to the line. I couldn't concentrate in class, I couldn't sleep, when I did I dreamed about that day, I couldn't eat. I couldn't focus on anything. So, the day my two week span ended, I was as relieved to see him as you might be a long lost friend, even though I didn't even know his name.

It was during a prime example of my inability to pay attention in class anymore that I noticed him. I had taken to staring at the clock above the classroom door during in Trig, all period. It was the annoying type of clock, one of the ones that only teachers seem to have, where the second hand didn't tick around the edge, but instead it glided, making it seem to move twice as slow. I was staring at it as I did every day, chin cradled in my palm, a slight glaze over my eyes I'm sure, when I noticed him walk by the door in the long, rectangular window into the hall. The window was narrow, and he had been moving so fast I had barely had time to realize it was him, but once I did, I was on my feet.

"…Ryou?" I came to my senses, this was a classroom.

"…Bathroom, please Mrs." I said off-handedly, unsure if she would believe me, but rushing towards the door like a sprinter when she nodded towards it in her approval. I burst into the hall, looking in the direction he had been headed and feeling my insides lurch at what I saw.

The hallway was empty. I whirled around to look the opposite direction, but it was empty that way too. He couldn't have just _vanished_. I had just seen him. So, instead of giving up, I started at a jog towards the direction he had been headed when he passed the window, coming to the intersection of another hallway, looking down one direction with no success before I turned to look the other way, throwing out a hand to brace myself against the wall as I spotted his back at last.

He didn't turn, long hair, white as fresh snow against a black shirt, swinging behind him like a pendulum. As he walked, I analyzed his retreating back with envy. Even from behind, you could see the way he angled his head upward, the way he held his shoulders back, walking with a sense of self-worth that I couldn't even begin to scratch the surface of. He was wearing boots, not the kind that might click against a hard floor, but the heavy rubber type, the type that let out a loud reverberating 'thud' with each step. He was stunning.

"W…Wait!" I cried out towards him, extending the hand I wasn't using to brace myself, desperate for him to turn, to acknowledge me, to prove to me that he did exist, and that I wasn't just out of my mind. He paused, but to my horror, he made no move to turn and look, instead he continued on his way as if he hadn't heard anything.

"Wait, please!" I cried again, my voice cracking in desperation. He stopped a second time, and with a small squeak of thick rubber on tile, he was facing me from twenty feet down the hall.

I froze instantly, every muscle in my body pulling itself taunt as every thought, every scenario of talking to him that I had planned out meticulously in my head, vanished. Here he was, right in front of me, and I had nothing to say to him. I mean, I had to say something, didn't I? I couldn't — no, I wouldn't, go on living with the only thing he had ever said to me stuck on repeat in my head; for the rest of my life.

"I…" He was swaying slightly, not in a disoriented way, but in a predatory way, moving his body back and forth just enough for my eyes to catch the motion, as if he was about to lunge at me. "What's your name?" I finished lamely, watching his stalking sway come to a completely motionless stop at the question, his eyes darkening slightly. Dumb move.  
I expected him to turn and just start walking again, but he didn't, instead he took two steps towards me, and raised a hand to beckon me.

I almost fell in my hast to get to him, stumbling forward until we were a few feet apart, staring at him expectantly. We were even more similar, when we were up close; our skin was even the exact same translucent shade of white. He shook his head and beckoned me again, only this time I hesitated, finding my senses in all this stupid confusion.

So we looked alike, so _what_. Why the hell did he affect me this? He was just another human being; there was nothing special about him. Right? … Right?

He beckoned again and my hesitation vanished as I stepped forward, close enough now to reach out and easily touch him. He beat me to the punch however, reaching out and grabbing my wrist, jerking me forward with a swift motion, his fingers closed around mine, cold on my own warm flesh. I was startled, too startled to jerk away, staring at him in astonishment as he guided my hand across the expansion between us to set it against something on the wall. I wouldn't know I wasn't looking at my hand; I was too busy studying the expression on his face.

He was frowning without frowning, the displeasure coming out through dark eyes, but his face placid. How the hell did he do that? How could I know exactly what he was thinking, when he didn't change his expression the slightest bit?

His fingers pressed mine around something, but I was distracted, still studying his face, still trying my best to work out how he managed the trick with his eyes.

It wasn't till the air around us started ringing that I realized he had just made me pull the fire alarm.

**-o-**

"You realize we'll have to call your father…" _of course._

"Pulling the fire alarm is a serious offence, it alerts the local fire department, and we have to deal with it, you do understand this, don't you Ryou?" _good luck reaching him in Europe._

"We just can't understand why this is coming from you, of all people."_ if calling him was that simple; I would do it more often._

"Ryou? Are you even listening?" I blinked twice and focused on the principal's face, clearly my autopilot wasn't in full working order, and I obviously didn't look like I was at full attentiveness. It was hard to function right now, even to make something as standard for me as my autopilot was a struggle, I was too preoccupied with replaying the moment after the alarm had started in my head over and over again.

**---­**

"My name is Bakura," he mumbled, his face close enough to mine that he didn't have to raise his voice to be heard above the fire alarm. "Now, leave it alone." The hand he had over mine on the fire alarm tightened suddenly and I winced, twisting my body away from his as I felt my finger pop, the fragile bone breaking with a resounding 'pop' that I felt throughout my whole body, the pain so sharp that it brought the entire hallway into razor-sharp focus.

He was still standing in front of me; I could have counted each of the individual white hairs of his bangs. He pressed harder onto my already broken fingers and I felt dizzied, whimpering. "Understand?" I nodded and he released me, turning and walking away as people poured out of the classrooms and into the hallway, following the usual evacuation procedures we had practiced since elementary school.

"Wait!" I had no idea why I was calling after him, still, but he did stop, and I could see his whole body bristle as he turned back towards me, looking at me over one of his thin shoulders. His face was livid with fury. "Why…why do you want me to leave it alone??"

"… Because I told you to," Bakura replied coldly, the world narrowing itself down to the two of us, standing ten feet away from each other in what could have been an empty hallway. There was no alarm, there were no other students, there was nothing but Bakura, and me, and despite all the noise, every word he spoke hit me straight in the chest.

"But…"

"… Because I told you to, and you'll _do_ what I tell you." The coldness was still in his voice, but I didn't care, and even though he couldn't see it, because he had started away again, disappearing into the crowd, I nodded numbly. 

Maybe it was the pain from my finger, maybe it was my stunned state from having been so close to him, maybe the shock of his command was stick ricocheting through me, or maybe it was none of those things and I'm just a dumb person in general, but when the sprinkler system suddenly started to go off, causing girls to scream and boys to curse, I continued to stand there, hand on the fire alarm, staring at the place where he had disappeared.

**---**

The school sent me home for the day, not for my hand, but because I was suspended; for the rest of the day anyway. I had no prior record, so the stunt with the fire alarm didn't get me suspended for a week like it would have normally. I could have called in for a ride, but I opted to walk instead, trudging through the cold air towards my home as if it was a death march, cradling my injured hand in my uninjured one.

The air outside had gotten even colder, and the place where my damp clothes clung to me felt like needles, but it was dulled by the pain in my hand. My center digit was swollen to almost three times its normal size, and I couldn't even force it to bend. I was reconsidering the idea of it being broken now, because it seemed a lot more likely that it was just jerked out of it's joint. Staring down at the finger as I walked I felt an odd sense of triumph.

Maybe I would see him again, tomorrow.

**a/n:** Well, there's the second chapter! Personally, I'm quite fond of it. I'm hoping to get an update up every two to three days, so be on the lookout!


End file.
